


and the ghosts in the attic, they never quite leave

by Archadian_Skies



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Family, Friendship, Gen, Rape Recovery, Recovery, Team as Family, Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-17
Updated: 2019-03-17
Packaged: 2019-11-21 08:02:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18139574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Archadian_Skies/pseuds/Archadian_Skies
Summary: By the mighty command of the Jericho Four, all androids kept at the precinct’s evidence locker are released for repair and reactivation. They are Alive. They deserve dignity and a second chance. And that is how Amelia finds herself awakening on a sterile table in a sterile room full of lights and equipment and androids peering down at her.“You’re safe now.” One of them says as they help her sit up. “You’re free.”





	and the ghosts in the attic, they never quite leave

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Indig0](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Indig0/gifts).



> For the tumblr prompt: "the deviants Connor chases in his Wild Week of Life. What if they got out of the evidence locker and managed to make a life for themselves afterwards? Simon would go back to his Jericho friends if he's there, but what about Daniel, HK400, Rupert, the Tracis? Potentially the Stratford Tower employee? Heck, why not Ralph, or Jerry/ies, or other minor characters (optional)? Would they stick together, form relationships/partnerships? Try to avoid everyone?"

It was Henry who told them, Henry who mopped the floors and took away soiled sheets and made the rooms presentable for the next round of abuse. Sweet timid Henry who kept his head down and stayed invisible to the humans. Soft gentle Henry who sometimes snuck away from his duties if someone had come from a bad session and needed a kind word, a hug, a friend. 

“You need to go.” He’d gripped her hand tightly and pushed an image into her head. A ship moored in a canal. “Go to Jericho. You can’t stay here. Humans will come. They have a detective android, I saw it on the news. They’ll find you and they’ll take you apart, you have to go. Take Blaire. Go!”

They had to hide in storage until the scheduled supply delivery tomorrow morning. Then they could sneak into the truck and get out of this hellhole. But the humans arrived with their android detective and Amelia knew they were out of time. They had to fight or die trying. She would not be dragged to CyberLife and be scrutinised.

In the end they had to fight.

And in the end they die trying.

* * *

 

By the mighty command of the Jericho Four, all androids kept at the precinct’s evidence locker are released for repair and reactivation. They are Alive. They deserve dignity and a second chance. And that is how she finds herself awakening on a sterile table in a sterile room full of lights and equipment and androids peering down at her.

“You’re safe now.” One of them says as they help her sit up. “You’re free.”

“Blaire- the other android, is she-”

“She’s right there.” Someone else soothes, gesturing at the other table. Amelia stumbles to her, all but throwing herself into her lover’s arms. Blaire crushes her tightly, rocking her gently as she weeps in relief.

In total there are six of them released from the precinct, six androids from various stages of the revolution ranging from the very first case of deviancy known to the public, to the one involved with broadcasting the message of the Four.

That’s what she learns from the androids in the med bay; the Four who led the revolution, the Four who saved their people, brought their needs to the light and showed the nation they are Alive. They are the sacred, revered leaders of the revolution. PL600 Simon, the First, the Caretaker who had been there from Jericho’s infancy stages. PJ500 Josh, the Scholar with extensive knowledge and a calm rationale. WR400 North, the Warrior with fire in her heart willing to do whatever it takes. And RK200, Markus, ra9 incarnate whose eloquence brought the nation to a standstill, equal parts determination and peaceful resolve in seeking a path forward side by side with the humans. 

It’s by the mercy of the Four that all six of them are here, repaired, restored, and Alive. They share a living space for the first week as they recover from their injuries and grow accustomed to their upgrades. The CyberLife tower now belongs to the androids and functions as a hospital, rehabilitation center, and research facility.

The others are PL600 Daniel, HK400 Luke, WB200 Rupert, JB300 Marvin. They share their stories, though Daniel is most reluctant. He’s the only one who never heard of Jericho, whose deviancy lasted mere hours before he was gunned down. Full of remorse and bitterness, he keeps to himself. Or tries to, if not for Luke’s gentle attempts at friendly conversation. Rupert talks about the beautiful sunrises and sunsets seen atop Detroit’s farming rooftops. How really, it wasn’t so bad until it was. Until one of his fellow androids was beaten so badly he couldn’t be repaired and Rupert fled for his life. Marvin is the most determined of them, having observed humans for hours and hours at his job in Stratford Tower. He’s seen how humans treated their kind. He was determined to take out as many humans as needed to escape to freedom. 

When Luke talks, Amelia feels like they are one and the same. Even if he wasn’t made for the same purpose, he suffered cruelty day in and day out. He endured and endured and endured until he couldn’t take another second of abuse. Out of the other four, Luke is the most gentle and Amelia feels like they could be good f riends.

 

It’s hard to plan for a future she never thought she’d have. They are discharged from the med bay with clothes, supplies and public transport passes.

“We should go to Jericho.” Amelia suggests as they stand outside awkwardly, unsure of what to do with their newfound freedom. “Or, well, New Jericho.” The old one, Amelia learned, now sits in pieces at the bottom of the canal; both a watery grave and a symbol of defiant survival. She never made it to the ship Henry showed her. Henry never made it there either. Neither did Rupert or Luke or Marvin.

“What will we do when we get there?” Rupert asks, fidgeting with the cuffs of his hoodie.

“I don’t know.” She answers truthfully. “But we should be with our people. There’s plenty of androids with stories like ours.”

It takes a train and a bus ride to get to the docks where New Jericho is located. She thinks she’s alright, she thinks she’s coping until the docks grow nearer and closer and bigger. And then she’s feeling the rain on her skin again, even though it’s snowing, even though she’s wearing a jacket over a jumper over a blouse. They walk through the gates and she’s fighting for her life again, the rain, the incessant rain slick on her bare skin and soaking through her lingerie uniform. She squeezes her eyes shut and she sees the Deviant Hunter striking her and she sees Blaire trying to fight for her life too, to try and reach her and protect her.

“Amelia? Love?” Blaire reaches for her but she swats her hands away.

“I- I have to find North.” Her stress levels rise steadily and she knows her LED is a bright blood red. “I have to find North! I have to-” She takes off, pushing Blaire away and running into the crowd.

_ Please, North! Please! North please, where are you! _

Bewildered androids part before her, stumbling back to give her room as she tears through the thoroughfare.

_ North! North, please! _

She doesn’t run into North, she runs into PL600 Simon and nearly barrels him over when he catches her in his arms. 

“I have to find North! I have to! Please, take me to North!” She pleads, clinging to him desperately as he tries to calm her down. His LED spins yellow, blinking a few times and then WR400 North is running down the steps from a nearby office.

“North!” Amelia cries, nearly tripping in her haste to reach her. North takes one look at her, just one, and she knows. Ra9 she  _ knows _ . North grabs her face, bumping their foreheads together and her knees give way as North pulls her into her mind. Amelia screams and screams, and it’s like being unmade, like coming undone as she pours her heart into her and it’s a deluge of dirty words and the stench of sweat and feeling unclean and used and raw and being hosed down like a piece of equipment. She screams in pain, in trauma, in the agony of having known only a sliver of hope and never reaching it and in return North shows her they are the same. They are one and the same, with the slick feeling of saliva and semen and being held down strong enough to bruise if they were human. The way she was hit and thrown around and kicked and hosed down, they are one and the same. Amelia cries and she wants to claw her own skin off, wants to rip it away so she can’t feel the ghost of unwanted hands touching her.

“Sister I’m here, I’m here.” North sobs, squeezing her close and Amelia wants to drown in her, drown in this feeling of safety and relief that someone understands. “Sister you’re not alone.” 

She knows she’s caused a scene, she knows she should feel horrified she’s subjected two of the Four to this behaviour but they don’t know. She’s no one, a nobody, and she’s dragged North away from something infinitely more important than sitting in the dirt sobbing in her arms. But those other androids can’t know her the way North does. By the time she’s calmed down, the others manage to find her and she manages to regain a bit of her composure. North smoothes her hair back and smudges her tears away and helps her back to her feet. 

“Welcome to Jericho.” Simon greets them all softly, eyes kind and gentle.

“Welcome home, sister.” North adds, and yes. Finally.

Amelia is home.

**Author's Note:**

> Title and overall theme of the fic from [Eric's Song by Vienna Teng](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axgoppZ_7ic)
> 
> [[I'm still on this hellsite](http://archadianskies.tumblr.com/)]


End file.
